Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed OBE (born 9 October 1936)is an English actor. He is known for his distinctive bushy beard, booming voice, and exuberant personality and performances. He portrayed PC "Fancy" Smith in Z-Cars; Augustus in the 1976 BBC television production of I, Claudius; King Richard IV in the first series of Blackadder; Prince Vultan in Flash Gordon; Bustopher Jones and Old Deuteronomy in the 1981 original London production of Cats at the New London Theatre; Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, in Henry V; Boss Nass in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace; and the voice of Clayton and the Tarzan yell in Disney's Tarzan. In 2016, Blessed was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the arts and charity. Blessed was born on 9 October 1936 at Montagu Hospital in Mexborough, West Riding of Yorkshire, the son of William Blessed, a socialist coal miner at Hickleton Main Colliery (and himself the son of a coal miner) and cricketer for the Yorkshire second team, and Hilda (née Wall). He had a brother Alan, seven years younger, and the pair "went everywhere together" when they were growing up. Alan Blessed died from leukaemia aged 52; their mother died aged 87, and their father died aged 99. Blessed's great-great-grandfather, Jabez Blessed, was the father of 13 children and worked as a china and glass dealer in Brigg, Lincolnshire; many of Blessed's relatives hail from Brigg. Blessed went to Bolton on Dearne Secondary Modern School, and completed his national service in the RAF, in Bicester, before enrolling at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 1956.
183 acting credits · 1 directing credit
Acting · 183
Family Guy
1999
Doctor Who
1963
Peppa Pig
2004
The Amazing World of Gumball
2011
The Avengers
1961
QI
2003
Minder
1979
Have I Got News for You
1990
Tales of the Unexpected
1979
BBC Play of the Month
1965
Natural World
1983
The Sweeney
1975
Z-Cars
1962
Blackadder
1983
The Wednesday Play
1964
ITV Playhouse
1967
Have I Got a Bit More News for You
—
Would I Lie to You?
2007
Lady Chatterley
1993
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
1999
Space: 1999
1975
GMTV
1993
Who Do You Think You Are?
2004
Blake's 7
1978
Close Enough
2020
The Paul O'Grady Show
2004
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip
2011
Pebble Mill
1991
Thriller
1973
Lovejoy
1986
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
2022
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
2002
The Expert
1968
Soccer AM
1995
Tarzan
1999
Justice
1971
Public Eye
1965
Churchill's People
1974
The Russell Howard Hour
2017
I, Claudius
1976
The Heaven and Earth Show
1998
Danger Mouse
2015
Alexander
2004
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
1991
Survivors
1975
War and Remembrance
1988
Crossbow
1987
The Troubleshooters
1965
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
1969
Blankety Blank
2021
The Kenny Everett Television Show
1982
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
1969
Sooty
2011
Flash Gordon
1980
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
Arthur of the Britons
1972
The History of Tom Jones: A Foundling
1997
Wizards vs Aliens
2012
Hamlet
1996
Britain's Got More Talent
2007
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
2021
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
1996
Shirley's World
1972
Much Ado About Nothing
1993
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
2012
The Eagle Has Landed
1976
Fantasy World Cup
1998
The Last Days of Pompeii
1984
The Three Musketeers
1966
Henry V
1989
The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything
2000
John Silver's Return to Treasure Island
1986
All Star Mr & Mrs
2008
Sooty & Co.
1993
Best & Bester
2022
Fun at the Funeral Parlour
2001
The Kumars
2014
Notorious Woman
1974
Take Me Out
2010
The Further Adventures of the Musketeers
1967
Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return
2014
Man of La Mancha
1972
As You Like It
2006
Johnny and the Dead
1995
The Little World of Don Camillo
1981
Cold Comfort Farm
1968
High Road to China
1983
The Aphrodite Inheritance
1979
Henry VIII and His Six Wives
1972
Saving Planet Earth UK
2007
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
2007
My Family and Other Animals
1987
LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out
2012
Boy Dominic
1974
The Conclave
2006
In Confidence
2010
Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh
1998
The Last Valley
1971
The Royal
2003
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
1992
Robin Hood: The Rebellion
2018
Nobody's House
1976
The Trojan Women
1971
So You Want To Be A Pirate!
2012
Kidnapped
1995
Shed of the Dead
2019
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
2022
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
2005
Catherine the Great
1996
The Underdog Show
2008
Time Travel Is Dangerous!
2025
MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis
1994
Macbeth
1997
A Question of Entertainment
1988
Was It Something I Said?
2013
Blackadder's Most Cunning Moments
2008
Tales of Television Centre
2012
Day of Wrath
2006
The Day After Tomorrow
1975
The Castle of Adventure
1990
Prisoner of Honor
1991
The Hound of the Baskervilles
1983
The Mumbo Jumbo
2000
Peppa Pig: Wedding Party!
2024
Till Death Us Do Part
1969
The Big Knights
1999
The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond
1995
A Christmas Carol
1977
Back in the USSR
1992
Agent Crush
2008
European Heritage
1973
Doctor Who: Mindwarp
1986
The Master of Ballantrae
1984
Peppa's Cinema Party
2024
David Macaulay: Roman City
1994
King Arthur, the Young Warlord
1975
The Greatest Store in the World
1999
David Macaulay: Pyramid
1989
Cosmic Princess
1982
The Queen: 70 Glorious Years
2022
The Bruce
1996
I, Claudius: A Television Epic
2002
Into Infinity
1975
The Legend of the Tamworth Two
2004
Life After Flash
2017
David Macaulay: Castle
1983
David Macaulay: Cathedral
1986
Devil's Harvest
2003
Son of Man
1969
Galahad of Everest
1991
The Making of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
2002
The Making of The Trial of a Time Lord
2008
Brotherly Love
1970
The Gnostics
1987
Wojtek: The Bear That Went to War
2011
Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy
2006
Tales of the Unexpected: Lamb to the Slaughter
1979
Old Rococo: The Life of Gioacchino Rossini
1992
Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots
2015
The Double Agent
1969
The Castle of Adventure
1990
Fee Fi Fo Yum
2010
The Dark Side of Everest
2003
The Christmas Tree
1966
Chasing the Deer
1994
Wine of India
1970
Eugenius!
2020
Blake's 7: The Beginning
1985
Genius: Pythagoras
1996
King Lear
1999
The Seventeenth Kind
2014
A Midsummer Nightmare
1975
The Bristol Entertainment
1971
Blood and Dust
1992
The Old Man Of The Mountain
1989
Exam Conditions
1992
Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy
2005
Back in Business
2007
Mr. Bojagi
2010
Bug-Eyed Monsters Invade the Earth!
2022
Brian Cox: Space, Time & Videotape
2014
Dear Mr. Burton
2020
448 BC: Olympiad of Ancient Hellas
2004